Tartine Method in a Cold House
Ever since winter came I've been having trouble getting my Tartine style (70 - 85% hydration) to firm up the way it did in the summer. The Temps in my house are about 19-22 C and 66-72 F. I've tried:
1. Allowing for extra time in the Autolyse: I've tried giving anywhere from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours.
2. Allow time for bulk rise: I've tried providing 5-6 hours for bulk rise doing a fold every 30 minutes.
3. Once on the bench, because the dough hasn't firmed up at all it is very difficult to work with since it just sticks to my work surface (unlike when the weather was warmer).
I know the easy answer is to have a proofing box of some sort (like using the oven) but my oven is extremely small and I honestly don't think I can fit two containers in it; one with hot water and another with the dough. I live in China and built in ovens are hard to come by.
Is there anything else I can do to try and alleviate this? What do others do with their high hydration breads in the winter months?
Take the cold one step further - overnight the dough in the fridge.
I do place my dough in the fridge after I do the bulk rise (4-6 hours with the turns) and then after the 2 shapings (with the bench rest in the middle). Would it be wise to change this around such that:
After mixing all the dough, Autolyse, mix in my salt and extra water, then place right in the fridge overnight, take out and do my shaping, place back in the fridge (or keep out for faster rise) and then bake?
Use a desk lamp with an incandescent bulb to warm it up.
That isn't too bad of an idea. It should provide a little heat to the bread. Now that I'm thinking about it I could maybe set this up in a cabinet or a rubber maid type box to help keep the heat inside.
My proofing setup consists of a 75W heat lamp and a thermostat. It gets up to 30C.
Great low-tech fix! Thanks for sharing.